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Mattis, Sitharaman talk Afghanistan, terror and cooperation in Indo-Pacific

India could step up aid, but no 'boots on the ground' in Afghanistan

Nirmala Sitharaman, James Mattis
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Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman welcoming the US Secretary of Defense James Mattis at South Block, New Delhi, on Tuesday. BS Photo

Ajai Shukla New Delhi
In what she termed “substantive, constructive and forward-looking talks” in New Delhi on Tuesday, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her US counterpart, Defense Secretary James Mattis, pressed all the right buttons in affirming a growing common ground between Washington and New Delhi.
 
“From our discussions today, I am confident that we are entering a new phase in our strategic defence partnership with the United States,” said Sitharaman.
 
In talks that went on for half an hour longer than scheduled, the two sides discussed military-to-military engagements and exercises; supply of high-tech US weaponry to India; curbing cross-border terrorism, especially